Super Mario Bros., a 1985 platform game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, is a popular game in speedrunning. It has seen a consistently high level of attention since 2010, when American speedrunner Andrew Gardikis, also known as andrewg, beat the game in under five minutes for the first time. It is one of the most optimized games in speedrunning. The current world record of 4:54.332, set by American speedrunner Niftski on is four frames (67 milliseconds) off what is believed to be a theoretically perfect run of 4:54.265.
Speedrunners use a number of advanced techniques and glitches to improve their performance and achieve new personal bests. These techniques, including wrong warps and the flagpole glitch, have become more effective over time thanks to collaboration among a community of speedrunners and glitch hunters. The activity is not regulated by a formal organization but is instead moderated by a team of volunteers from the community. Top speedrunners often stream attempts to achieve personal bests live on Twitch. Notable former world record holders include andrewg, darbian, and Kosmic.
History
Early competition The earliest recorded speedrun of Super Mario Bros. was performed by Japanese player in April1999. Casion performed the run on an emulator for the website High Level Challenge, and achieved a time of 9:51. Early on, completion times were recorded by Twin Galaxies which prohibited the use of unintended game mechanics and glitches. In 2004, American speedrunner Scott Kessler submitted a new world record of 5:14 to Twin Galaxies, beating the best known time by three seconds. Over the next three years, Kessler faced competition from fellow speedrunners Trevor Seguin and Andrew Gardikis, an American speedrunner also known as andrewg.
In 2007, andrewg submitted his first run to Speed Demos Archive which did allow the use of glitches in runs. His first submitted time with glitches completed the game in 5:00.355. He used a wrong warp glitch in World4-2 and a wall jump in World8-4, which helped him to save over five seconds. On andrewg became the first person to complete the game in under five minutes, with a time of 4:59.690. Over the course of the next three years, andrewg continued to improve his own time, bringing the record down to 4:58.092 in March 2014. He had since implemented a strategy known as "fast 4-2", a harder version of the wrong warp glitch with a much lower success rate.
In June2014, Blubbler beat andrewg's time by 399milliseconds, achieving a time of 4:57.693. They were the first person to beat andrewg's time in seven years. Blubbler achieved this time by being the first to implement the Bullet Bill glitch, but opted not to attempt "fast 4-2". On a relative newcomer to the speedrunning scene named Brad Myers, better known as darbian, completed the game in 4:57.627, setting a new world record. In January 2016, darbian managed to perform both the Bullet Bill glitch and "fast 4-2" in a single run, improving his time down to 4:57.427. Following the run, darbian set a goal for himself to get the "perfect" speedrun, a run with the Bullet Bill glitch, "fast 4-2", and a well executed World8-4. In April2016, darbian achieved this "perfect" time with a 4:57.260, claiming that he had "reached [his] potential in this category".
Implementation of the flagpole glitch
In September2016, a new method of performing the flagpole glitch was published to YouTube. The glitch had previously been used by tool-assisted speedruns but was thought to be impossible to perform in real time. Glitch hunter Chris Milling, better known as sockfolder, discovered a consistent, run-viable method of performing the trick, which began being implemented in runs by darbian and longtime speedrunner Kosmic. Kosmic had been performing at the top level since 2013 but had yet to achieve a world record. In October2016, Kosmic managed to beat darbian's record with a time of 4:57.194, using the new flagpole glitch in World 1-1 and 4-1, but losing a framerule in 8-2 from a slow bullet bill glitch. Two days later, darbian took the record back with a time of 4:56.878, breaking the 4:57 barrier by saving the framerule in 8-2 that Kosmic had lost. One more flagpole glitch in 8-3 allowed darbian to drop the record to 4:56.528 on
Kosmic took the world record back in February2018. In September2018, he broke the 4:56 barrier, achieving a time of 4:55.913 by implementing a wall clip in World1-2 to get to the warp zone faster. At the time, Kosmic faced competition from two other runners: somewes, who took the world record twice in 2018; and tavenwebb2002, who took the world record in 2019.
Tying the theoretical limit In 2020, Niftski, a prominent speedrunner who had entered the scene the previous year, started using a faster 8-2 strategy in his runs, which helped him reach his first world record of 4:55.430. Niftski's world record was improved twice in early 2021 by Miniland, who got the time down to 4:55.230. With that run, the difference between the world record and the theoretical perfect run of 4:54.265 became less than a second. A race to break the final 4:55 barrier was started between Niftski, LeKukie, Miniland, Thelxinoe, Tree_05, AldynSpeedruns, and jscarbo. On Niftski broke the barrier by implementing a flagpole glitch and fast acceleration in World8-1, getting a time of 4:54.948. Kyle Orland of Ars Technica described this accomplishment as "speedrunning’s version of the four-minute mile".
On Niftski improved his time to 4:54.631 with a new strategy for the wrong warp in World4-2: "Lightning 4-2". This strategy was first theorized by HappyLee in 2018, but was thought to be too difficult to perform outside of a tool-assisted speedrun. "Lightning 4-2" allowed runners to match all of the frame rules possible in a theoretically perfect speedrun for the first time. Future runs would only be able to save time on the last level, World8-4. In August 2025, Niftski obtained a new world record of 18:49.972 in the warpless category, beating his previous record by more than five seconds. This was the largest improvement in a single run of the category in over 10years.
On a bounty was announced by the woodworking company Wyrmwood: the Super Mario Bros.speedrun world record holder as of would receive $5,000 and a Mario-themed table. After two consecutive records by Niftski on October9 and 23, averge11 reclaimed the record on December18, winning the bounty and setting a time of 4:54.415, nine frames (150milliseconds) behind a theoretically perfect run. In June2026, Brazilian speedrunner LeKukie saved three frames over averge11 with a time of 4:54.365. LeKukie, who had been playing since 2019, had been held back by inferior hardware, first running on a PlayStation 2 via emulation and then on a Brazilian NES which runs slightly slower than the North American model. Various members of the Super Mario Bros. speedrunning community donated equipment to allow him to play at the top level. On August 13, Niftski reclaimed the record, pushing it to 4:54.332, four frames from a theoretically perfect run.
Input swapping dispute While swapping the input method had been allowed by the rules since October2025, a decision to ban the method was proposed in February of the following year and received the majority vote. Both averge11 and Niftski, who had been swapping between a computer keyboard and an NES controller in runs, were not part of the moderation team but were brought in as consultants on the vote. On Niftski released a video accusing averge11 of rigging the vote to sabotage his progress and claiming that the decision was done in bad faith. Niftski claimed that averge11 sent negative messages about him in private servers to motivate other members to conspire against him, while also pushing to close the vote early to avoid other members potentially voting against the rule change. Messages posted on averge11's private Discord server after the vote such as "no more Niftski" were also brought up. averge11 later responded on Twitter, stating that they didn't "have an excuse for some of the behavior brought up in some of these documents, nor [did they] intend to excuse it." After further community feedback, the decision was reversed in July 2026.
Organization
Currently, no formal organization or company officiates Super Mario Bros.speedruns. Community decisions are managed by a team of volunteer moderators who verify runs submitted to Speedrun.com, vote on leaderboard rules, and moderate the community Discord server and Speedrun.com forums.
Speedruns can be performed on both official Nintendo consoles, such as the NES, or on a short list of approved emulators. Runners can choose to play on a variety of controllers including computer keyboards and are allowed to switch controllers in the middle of a run. Controllers are also restricted to not register simultaneous left and right inputs, which cannot be performed with an unmodified NES controller and are prohibited by the rules. Glitches are allowed, but cheat codes or other hardware modications not possible on official Nintendo hardware are banned. Timing begins once the player gains control of Mario and ends around the frame everything disappears after he touches the axe behind Bowser at the end of World8-4.
Performance
Speedrunners acquire new personal best times by recording speedruns known as "attempts" or "runs". If a runner decides that a run is not going well enough, they often end their runs early or "reset" to fit more attempts into a session. At the top level, it can often take thousands of attempts to acquire a new personal best. Top runners often stream their attempts live on Twitch. A common feature of these live streams is an on screen heart rate monitor. During successful attempts, top runner heart rates can reach higher than 160beats per minute. World record holder Niftski reached a heart rate of 188bpm at the end of one successful attempt.
Outside of attempts, speedrunners practice individual tricks and levels with the help of outside tools, such as save states and flashcarts.
Categories Super Mario Bros.speedrunners compete to achieve times in a number of different categories. Most categories still require the completion the game but may come with different rulesets or require additional game actions for completion.
Any% The any% category is the shortest run that completes the game and also the most competitive. Glitches are allowed in this category. Two different warp zones hidden by the developers are used in this category to skip much of the game. Speedrunners only need to play through 8 of the 32levels to reach the end. Since 2007, the world record has been improved by less than six seconds. The current world record is 4:54.332 held by Niftski.
Warpless The warpless category bans the use of warp zones which allow the player to skip levels. Glitches including the walljump and flagpole glitch are still allowed. This category beats all 32levels in the base game. The current world record is 18:49.972 held by Niftski.
Glitchless The glitchless category bans the use of glitches but is otherwise identical to any%. Glitches banned include wall jumps, wall clips, wrong warps, the flagpole glitch, and the bullet bill glitch. The current world record is 5:02.685 by Niftski.
All-Stars Speedruns are also performed on the Super Mario All-Stars version. This version has a number of relevant changes compared to the original, including Piranha Plants having larger hitboxes and enemies despawning less often. The current world record for All-Stars any% is 4:55.780 by Niftski, the warpless record is 19:42.885 also by Niftski.
Category extensions